Hanyou's Soul: Ari's Story
by Arimikoe
Summary: In an epic clash of mystery, fantasy and drama, one girl connects the worlds of Inuyasha and Rurouni Kenshin. Will the young hanyou be decieved.. or follow the true path of her soul?


HALFLING  
Ari's Story  
  
Part 1: Abandoned  
A small girl stumbled through the ancient forest, calling for a mother who would never answer her tearful cries. The girl seemed hardly five years old, and a bit small for her age. She had large, pixieish eyes, colored like sapphires or a cloudless sky. Firey-red hair streaked with gold hung in them, for it had never been cut. It was rather the color of the red fox.  
  
Strangely, it wasn't the only foxlike quality about the child, as the villagers of Mushin soon found out as she collapsed in front of the village shrine. Rain pattered down on her still form, turning the dirt on her torn clothes to mud, and shrouding her in the veil of the night. She raised her head slightly at the sound of footsteps and tried to blearily concentrate on the bright lights in front of her. Fire.  
"Mama...?" she asked weakly, her cheek resting in the mud. "Mama.. please come back..." She could hardly make out the shouts of the villagers at they drew closer. She was too weak almost even to breathe, for she had been lost for days after she was chased from her home by hunters. They had wanted her mother.  
"Fox-demon!"  
"It will kill us all! We must hurry!!"  
The child closed her bleary eyes at the voices. She could not have known what was happening, and if she had her reaction probably would have been the same. Sounds of an animal cry filled her memory, of her mother biting at the hunters who were threatening their home. She had fled the thicket for a clearing not too far away when her home was set ablaze. The hunters had shot her in the stomach with an arrow, which she had chewed the end off of, trying to get it out. All alone, she had stumbled on, not sure if her mother ever escaped. The child's eyes suddenly opened wide, for a figure clad in a red robe, the mark of the Battousai, the great swordsmen, had jumped down from the roof of the shrine. Guarding her.  
The figure moved with almost inhuman speed and a certain grace as it knocked out seven villagers with the hilt of his katana before the first one had sufficient time to hit the ground.  
"Come," the unknown swordsman said in a clear, yet threatening voice. "Attack me if you think you can get past my blade." He crouched slightly, ready to spring at the slightest movement.  
The girl's eyes opened wide as he dismissed them suddenly and turned to her. She flinched in fear. What did this master swordsman want with her? Why was he saving her? He smiled slightly and without a word, sheathed his katana and gathered her up in his arms before speeding into the Mushin forest.  
He set her down in the long grass beside a waterfall she had never seen before, and gave her a concerned expression.  
The girl looked at him in wonder. She had never been touched by a human before, and it scared her. Her fragile fox ears quivered slightly in fear, and her small fluffy tail bent in suspicion.  
"Why did you save me?" she asked cautiously.  
"I'm vowed to protect the innocent, that I am," he said softly, his blue eyes warm, even covered with long, thick dark-red hair tied in a messy ponytail. He had a scar on his cheek. "And I have a grudge against those who would harm a defenseless child. Besides, you seem harmless enough, even being half fox-demon."  
The child refused to meet his eyes, hoping he would not sense her choking fear. Could humans smell fear like she could?  
"Who are you?" she asked, trying not to stutter.  
"I am called by many the Hitokiri Battousai, the manslayer. Or to my friends, Kenshin."  
"Where have I heard that name before?" the child wondered. "Mama might have told me about you.."  
"Was your mother a fox-demon?" Kenshin asked. "You.. look familiar."  
"She was," the girl whispered, now feeling more shy than scared. She flinched as a stray stick poked her wounded side.  
"Are you hurt?" he asked and lifted the side of her shirt. He inspected the wound for a moment, then suddenly he went stone still. "I must ask... is your name Arimikoe?"  
"Yes," the girl replied. "how-"  
"That mark on your side. There's no mistaking it..." he continued to stare for a moment at the reddish mark right above her right hipbone, shaped like a spidery star. "You... are my child. My daughter, Arimikoe."  
Ten Years Later...  
"You're not trying hard enough!" Kenshin's voice erupted over the clangs of steel, causing several small birds to take flight. "You have to want to win. Hurt me!"  
"I'm trying to hurt you!" A teenage girl's voice snapped like a whip through the relatively calm forest. It was clear, even now, when laced with frustration. Even the casual listener could tell that she never said anything she didn't mean.  
A flurry of dust and dirt rose into the air as two small bare feet dug into the ground, sliding back a few meters before coming to a stop. A tail of silky, long fur whipped for balance as the lean legs catapulted the apprentice swordsman thirty feet into the air.  
Arimikoe seemed to stop in midair, suspended in inhuman grace as she raised her katana above her head and let gravity do the rest. Her sapphire eyes, as deep as the sky above her, twinkled as her mouth slid into a self- satisfied smirk. She came down, the wind whipping through the shoulder- length strands of tawny hair that the low, off-center ponytail failed to capture.  
Her sword crashed into the ground as her father easily moved out of the way. Arimikoe moved into a ready pose.  
KA-CHAK!!  
"Father, why do you sheath your sword?!" Arimikoe bolted to standing. She was not a tall girl, and slight for her age of nearly fifteen. But however, beyond the barely frayed crimson robes and sinewy muscle, her form was definitely that of a female. The holster tugged at the tie that was wrapped around her small waist as she sheathed her weapon.  
"I've taught you all I can for the day," he swept back towards their cabin, a tiny wooden hut overgrown with climbing roses and ivy vines. It was half-hidden by trees anyway, making it nearly invisible. They hardly had visitors, so it was no matter.  
Arimikoe's pretty face contorted in an annoyed and childish pout. She was used to hearing this. "What did I do wrong this time?!"  
Kenshin stopped and turned around. "I cannot understand why you do not realize your advan-tage as a halfling. You should be more than a match for me with over ten years of training as my apprentice."  
"If you would just tell me what I'm doing wrong, I would have had it by now!" Arimikoe exclaimed.  
Kenshin sighed in mild annoyance. "No one is going to tell you all the answers in life, daughter. You will have to find most of them yourself. That's what is your problem. Your impatien-"  
"But-"  
"Heh, young lady, was I done speaking yet?" Kenshin looked at her through the tops of his eyes. Arimikoe sighed and looked at the sky.  
"No, father."  
"As I was saying, your impatience with your own mind is what hinders you. You cannot expect to win if you don't know yourself. Imagine what would happen if I were to teach you the final attack now. I will go make the tea." Kenshin turned once more and with a click of the wooden door, disappeared into the cabin.  
"Hmpfh!" Arimikoe glared at the ground for a moment, then sprang into the air onto her favorite branch of an ancient oak tree. She sat there for a moment. The sun was about to set, she could tell by the sudden coolness of the wind in her hair.  
Her dream was to become a great Battousai like her father, to become a hero and honor his name with amazing deeds. She would make humans trust her, and she would finally be accepted by this confusing race.  
They had both accepted the inevitable when he decided that she would be his apprentice, ten years ago. Every Battousai that had achieved greatness must train one apprentice, for it was their duty to honor the ancient art of the sword. She had endured rigorous training every day. Since the age of five, she had carried loads nearly twice her weight, sprinted every day for hours to build the muscles in her legs and her unfailing endurance. She had braved dangers unlike anything else, from wild beasts to dangerous terrain to the strongest of demons. Her father had once pushed her off of a three- hundred foot cliff, trying to cure her fear of heights, or perhaps teaching her how to swim, for there was water at the bottom. Her training had not been easy, but now.. she had no idea what he was getting at. She had made her body strong, but now he was talking of mastering her senses.  
He was having her fight with a blindfold, smell her way back home from miles of strange forest, and to mimic the sounds of birds. She knew the tastes of all the different sake, and could sense demon energy.  
And now he was saying something was wrong with the way she fought? Why wouldn't he tell her? Arimikoe's eyes suddenly narrowed as she remembered how her training would end.  
Every master Battousai had learned something called the final attack. It hit all of the five vulnerable parts of the body in the blink of an eye, and if done correctly, would instantly kill. In the end of teaching this attack, the master would face the apprentice, and then.. the moment of truth would arrive. The master would attack, and the apprentice would overcome, if they were worthy of becoming a master.  
One of them would die.  
It was the fate of all master Battousai. Kenshin had overcome it long ago, and knew the ways of the ancient art. But something was strange about Arimikoe.  
She was the first female in the history of the art. Not to mention half fox-demon. Which meant half again as strong. And with her training, skill unheard of. So why couldn't she figure out what she was doing wrong?  
"Coming, Arimikoe?" Kenshin's voice abruptly asked, cutting into her thoughts and snapping her back to the present.  
"Ah-ah-ah... OOF!!" Arimikoe fell ungracefully on her backside at the base of the tree. She let out a nervous giggle and turned bright red.  
Kenshin rolled his eyes in fond amusement, justifying that this was a common event. He nodded to her once, and she sprinted past him inside the hut.  
"Arimikoe?" Kenshin asked as the girl poured steaming chamomile tea into the cups in front of him and herself. He waited until she had picked up her own cup and blew at the steam rising from it before he spoke again.  
"I have been meaning to give you a new sword," he said softly. "For when you become a true Battousai," he gave her a meaningful smile.  
Arimikoe smiled. "Is this one of your rare jokes?" she took a sip of tea.  
"No, I believe my daughter is worthy of the Reykiryuu."  
Arimikoe spat out the tea. "The Reykiryuu?!" she exclaimed. "the sword you had made for you by that master craftsman?!"  
"Indeed, the very same." Kenshin wiped tea off of his face.  
Arimikoe gasped. She couldn't help it. A long time ago, he father had shown her a blade he kept locked away for the fabled time of when he may kill again. It had never been used.  
It was infused with strange powers, unlike any katana before made by man. It kept the power of a legendary creature inside of it, the Kiryuu. A nearly fabled creature, it was said only to come out on the night of the new moon, when the red star could be seen in the sky. It was said to be finished the night that Arimikoe was born. That was why she had the spidery star-like mark on her waist, the one that matched the burn mark on the hilt of the sword. Arimikoe had longed to touch the sword, to see it drawn, to see the sun glint off the blade.  
And her father had just said he would give it to her?! He had to be insane.  
"What's the catch?" she asked suspiciously.  
"Catch?" Kenshin frowned. "what do you mean by catch?"  
"There's gotta be a catch, dad," Arimikoe said reasonably. "Anything this good always comes with a catch."  
Kenshin chuckled slightly. She was used to this. Her father always laughed when she questioned his actions, which was often.  
"All right, you caught me," Kenshin let out his breath. "The only condition is that the first blood on that sword will come from someone worthy of fighting you. And I don't mean me." Kenshin sipped at his tea before going on. "I mean the first one who can truly challenge you when you become a master."  
"And if I.. don't become a master?"  
"It will be buried with your body so you may take it with you to the afterlife."  
Arimikoe let out her breath and changed the subject. "The sun is setting."  
Kenshin glanced out of the window at the dying colors. "We must hurry if we want to get to the waterfall in time."  
Running down the path moments later, Arimikoe wistfully looked ahead at her father. He was running the fastest he could, but she was hardly trying to keep up. Perhaps it was the fox in her blood that gave her capability for such speed. She had been known to run faster than any living creature they had encountered. Even childhood games of tag would leave her quick father in the dust.  
Arimikoe took her place under the waterfall next to her father. It was their nightly ritual that had been done as long as she could remember, purifying themselves underneath the holy spray that rained from the mountain's heart. How many times had they sat under this waterfall? How many more times would they? If she ever went on without her father, where would she go? She had never known life outside of his care, except for the softness of her mother's embrace and snatches of the voices of angry villagers. But the memories had twisted, faded, broken and mended until she wasn't sure what was the truth anymore. All she had now was her dear father, and her life's training. And her dreams. Could she really become a master?  
A sudden movement and her ears pricked forward.  
"What is it?" Kenshin murmured, his eyes closed in meditation.  
"A squirrel," she lied, and he nodded slightly. It was gone already. No use in telling him of what she had seen.  
"Squirrels are fast things. Have you ever seen them move up a branch like quicksilver, their tiny claws always knowing where they will hold next? They are so full of grace. In a way, how a mas-ter Battousai fights."  
Arimikoe's mind suddenly skipped. What was the fleeting thought? She tried to remember, but then stopped herself. Thoughts are like a spider web, she told herself. Push too hard and they will break. She felt on the verge of learning something meaningful, but her father said nothing more. He was silent as they took the necessary prayer of purification and stood from the spray.  
"Daughter," he suddenly turned to her. Arimikoe blinked. "Stand where you are and don't move." She obeyed, and he stepped back from her and drew his sword. The girl's eyes grew wide. No way. He's going to show me the final attack?!  
Kenshin suddenly shot forward, her breath caught in her throat, and there where five light stabs of pain, seemingly at one time. Her robes were ripped at her shoulders, stomach, and chest, and there was a thin line of blood running into her eyes from the small cut on her forehead.  
So fast. It had been so fast. That was the final attack? Her eyes sparkled in shock. She turned around to look at her father, who sheathed his sword and also turned to look at her.  
"Father?" she asked. "...Do you wish to teach me now?" her voice was uncertain, but not afraid.  
Kenshin nodded. She knew what he meant.  
"So I am to try it now?" she asked, and he nodded. She hesitantly drew her katana. Although it had been to fast for her to move or even breathe, she had seen how the five strikes were done. She shot forward, and with a ripping sound, mimicked her father's movements she had seen only moments before.  
"As always, the perfect student," Kenshin said softly as she turned to look at him. "But I trust you do not yet know how to overcome the final attack?"  
Arimikoe's eyes became slits as she shook her head.  
"One night. One last night of thought. One last night to study. I will leave you alone, and return at dawn, and then.. may fate take its course."  
Arimikoe looked at him for a moment, then, sheathing her sword, ran up and threw her arms around his neck.  
"Do you mean.. tomorrow? It will happen?" her hands trembled and a single tear dripped from her eyelashes.  
"I know you won't disappoint me, Arimikoe. You'll make me proud of you," he hugged her for a moment, as if she were again a little girl, lost and without a purpose. "It will make me so proud when you become the greatest Battousai of all time." He removed himself from her grasp, and walked off into the dark.  
  
As soon as the first of the morning sun peeked over the mountain horizon, the rain slowed to a drizzle. A lone bird sang in the distance, and Arimikoe shifted slightly for the first time all night.  
Kenshin was coming up the trail to the grounds near the waterfall. The girl's fox ears flicked slightly, sending off a small spray of water. So now was the time. It had finally come, after all these years of training. And.. he still hadn't told her what she had been doing wrong. This seemed an abstract thought as he stopped thirty feet in front of her, the morning sun sparkling in his sapphire eyes.  
"Such quick little squirrels, aren't they?" Kenshin asked absentmindedly, staring off into the trees, then turning back to her. "I trust you spent the night thinking."  
"Yes," Arimikoe answered softly, without raising her head to look at him.  
"Did you find the error in your fighting?"  
Arimikoe hesitated for a moment, then let out her breath with the word, "No."  
"I see..." Kenshin looked into the trees again. "Then you understand what will happen now," he didn't say it as a question. Arimikoe nodded again, but still did not look up. She heard his feet slide on the dirt of the path and the rustle of grass as he took a few steps closer to her, and then he spoke again.  
"Then prepare yourself, Arimikoe. For our final battle." Kenshin drew his katana from its scabbard and looked to the ground. "For all of it comes down to this."  
It comes down to this. Kenshin shot forward, his blue eyes turning cold and hard, the eyes of a creature that Arimikoe hardly remembered seeing before, on the night he saved her.  
Out of nowhere, Arimikoe remembered his stories of when he had been the Hitokiri Battousai, the manslayer. The dark days when his reason would disappear and he would kill without mind, drawing only on his training. He said that it was like becoming a different person, and it was then that Arimikoe realized he was giving her his all.  
She should have known he would turn to his past to attack her as he was doing now, to make sure that he wouldn't hold back on her. This master flying at her at incredible speed was in a way, not her father.  
She felt no fear. Only a strange pang of loneliness that she couldn't explain. Her life flashed before her eyes, traumatic yet short, as if willing her to remember every breath.  
This would very well be her last, and with that she looked up and her eyes took in the blade thrusting towards her. Her last breath. And as if she had suddenly drawn the answer from the glint on the blade moving almost too fast for the eye to follow, she knew.  
...moving up the branch like quicksilver..  
Of course! Her father never talked mindlessly about things. He always thought carefully before he spoke, so why would he say something like that about the squirrels?  
So full of grace. In a way, how a Master Battousai fights. A master Battousai. Not him. Now that she recalled, whenever he had stopped her in the middle of a fight and discontinued the lesson, she was trying a move she had seen him use.  
Not him. Arimikoe's eyes widened as the sharp point connected with her left shoulder. Not him. Not his moves. That was what he was trying to tell her. Not to use his moves. She had never hit him with one of them, as she recalled. Anything that hit him had always been one of her custom moves, and those..  
He always congratulated me when I came up with them, Arimikoe thought as Kenshin cut deeper into the place right above her left bicep muscle. And he could never do them, because of the speed they required.  
SPEED!! The electricity went on in Arimikoe's brain, suddenly she knew what she had been missing all along. Kenshin's blade was sliding out of her arm now, leaving a deep, wide gash where the sharp steel had connected. Suddenly, she knew. Speed. She couldn't simply overpower him, she had to draw on her strength, her speed.  
Arimikoe's hand shot up faster than the eye could see and gripped the hilt of her katana, and then pulled.  
There was a flash of steel as the apprentice's blade completely left the scabbard, sliced into flesh and then pointed strait out behind her, marking a full swing of the blade. Speed.  
It was faster than an eye blink. Inhuman. For the first time, Arimikoe reached a speed that could cleave light in half.  
The sword skittered across the path as Arimikoe fell into the dirt. She couldn't breathe. Have I been killed? She wondered for one crazy second, then suddenly drew air into her lungs.  
"I knew you could do it..." Kenshin's voice gasped suddenly, and Arimikoe fell violently back to the present. "You are a true Battousai now..."  
"Dad!" Arimikoe clumsily pushed herself up and staggered to his unmoving form. "Dad!" Arimikoe clamped a hand on her father's shoulder and rolled him onto his back.  
His eyes were a clear sapphire, even now when laced with pain. She pried his blood-soaked hand from his side.  
The wound would be fatal.  
"Remember everything I told you yesterday... Arimikoe.." it was getting harder for him to talk, but he pressed on. Ripples of blood were staining the path, both from the wound in his side and from his daughter's shoulder, though neither of them made an effort to stem the flow. "About the sword. I'm trusting you to become as great to everyone as you are to me," he smiled through his obvious pain. "I-I... just take this," Kenshin opened his shaking hand.  
In it was a small brass key.  
"Use it to open the box of the Reykiryuu," he said softly. "It's yours now, for you are a true Battousai, and now worthy of the title... Master..." Kenshin's eyes closed for the last time as he said his last words. He passed out then, breathing softly. Arimikoe clasped her hand over his and lay her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat become fainter and fainter.  
And then it stopped forevermore.  
The girl sat quietly in the sunrise for some time, not hearing the morning songs of the birds, not hearing the waterfall, not seeing the brilliant colors that painted the sky. She simply sat there with tears streaming down her face as she felt all reason leave her life except what was right in front of her.  
Her father's death.  
And why was she not happy? Why did she not feel anything? She had finally become a master, something she had trained all of her life for, but at what cost? The only person who had ever cared about her? Was this dream worth sacrificing her own father? Was it worth being covered in his blood?  
Arimikoe felt the key in her hand as she let go of him. The sword. Why had she been so happy? Why did she not realize before this that when she finally achieved what her father would be so proud of, he would have to die before it could happen? It had never sunken in before.  
She had thought that some way, her father would always be there. But now.. how could she have been such an idiot? How was he going to talk to her now? How was she going to hear his clear, strong voice?  
Arimikoe's clawed hands dug steadily at the earth until she had a sizable hole. She would never see him laugh again, scold her again... she eased him into the grave and then walked down the path back to the house. He would never roll his eyes at her again, chuckle at her jokes, smile knowingly when she fell from trees...  
She took the box from the top shelf of the tiny storage cabin and walked back to him, dripping blood every few feet, bright red covering the already drying stains of when she had walked the path a few minutes ago. Never again would he congratulate her on a successful training mission. He would never again laugh at an inside joke between the two of them... She pushed dirt over her father's form, pausing for a moment before she covered his face. She reached into the pool of the waterfall and sprinkled a handful of the pure water over his grave, then covered it with rocks to keep the wild animals away.  
Finally, shivering in pain and the shock of tears, she pushed the little brass key into the lock on the box and raised the lid.  
She ran her fingers over the star-like burn mark on the hilt of the sheathed katana. A mark she had seen so often on her own body, just above her right hip. The mark of the Kiryuu. Arimikoe ran her delicate yet strong fingers over the scabbard, then over the hilt, and finally to the two red strings trailing from the base of the hilt. It stood for the red eyes of the Kiryuu. The part with the most magical power.  
"The sword of ages..." she whispered. "Power, beauty and magic...and now it comes to me," Arimikoe held it for a few minutes and then placed it back in the box.  
The first blood on that sword will come from someone worthy of fighting you. Arimikoe closed the lid and set it on top of the rocks covering her father's body, then gently locked it before slipping the key into a pocket in her sleeve.  
Then she buried the box with her father's remains.  
  
Six months later. . .  
The young halfling girl now known as Ari jogged up the path out of the forest, following a smell she recognized and feared.  
"Death," she realized, her voice still light and clear, but even more laced with reason. "A demon has been through here..." She took off at an even faster pace than she would have been able to achieve six months ago, in the future she would be able to pass forty miles per hour.  
Her body had endured more intense training than ever since the death of her father and master. No longer an apprentice, Ari was now a known slayer of demons and a demon assassin. The wound in her shoulder had completely healed now, but had left a nasty white scar that her robes revealed clearly.  
Ari stepped into the village, her right hand resting lightly on the hilt of her katana. A village man started to tip his hat to her, but then realized her ears and tail and shot backwards in startled fright. Ari kept going. She had to find the source of the smell.  
She followed the scent to the center of the large village where the shrine was. Ari shoved past the villagers to the warm glow at the altar of the shrine.  
Three dead were being cremated.  
Three dead children.  
Ari's eyes clouded in sadness. Such young life, gone. She could tell by the blood scents on them that they had not died of illness, but of gashing wounds. She sniffed. And poison.  
"I don't think these children are sacrifices," she muttered and left the shrine before her presence was noticed and caused panic. "They've been murdered."  
"Indeed," said a voice. Ari jumped into the air as an old woman appeared beside her, looking at her, and yet unafraid.  
Ari was now used to having people jump away from her or scream in fear when they caught sight of her ears and tail. It was to be expected, for she had never known any demon to be even remotely merciful when it came to humans. Too bad no one knew that she wouldn't hurt them. The only thing that seemed to gain the trust of humans was to slay demons, and thus that was what she had done for the past six months. Her thoughts returned to the woman.  
"Ma'am?" Ari asked, and studied her. No fear. How strange. Was the woman simply losing her sight? "Then what did happen?" she asked, suddenly curious to know more about this saddening crime.  
"A demon," the woman said softly, gripping her walking stick. "A halfling such as yourself."  
Ari gasped. So the woman could see her strange features, and even knew something about demons enough to tell that she was part human. This was a surprise. Could she have been a priestess in her youth?  
"Who was this demon that would slay children?" Ari asked, choosing not to reveal her thoughts to this strange woman. "I would like to be of assistance to bring it to justice."  
"So you will hunt down this demon for me?" the old woman said softly.  
"Of course," Ari's eyes narrowed. "Such a horrible crime should not go unpunished." She rolled the words around on her tongue. Trying to talk like her father definitely wasn't working for her. She could hardly understand herself. "Would you describe this demon so I can begin?"  
"The halfling dog-demon," the woman answered, "will be traveling with a human girl, probably a possessed. He has long silver hair, claws and white dog ears, but otherwise he seems human, and his eyes are a tawny color. He carries a sword-"  
"A sword?" Ari exclaimed in excitement. This was gonna be good. She hoped he could duel, really duel. Hoped he could put up a good fight. She needed a challenge. Of all the demons she had faced, not one of them practiced the sword, and thus had little defense to her killing blows. This would be a good experience for her.  
"What will you take as payment?" The old woman asked. "I'm afraid I can't offer much-"  
"No payment," Ari said firmly. "My will is to serve those in need of assistance," Ari waved her hands nervously in front of her. "I'm a traveler, I don't have use for payment other than gratitude."  
As long as I can do some good in the lives of others, I will make my father proud, she thought as she gave the old woman a smile and started to walk away. Then she stopped and turned around.  
"Do you have anything with his scent on it?" she asked. "It will make him much easier to find."  
"Of course," the woman nodded and removed a small piece of bright red cloth dotted with blood from her bag. "He left this behind when an arrow glanced off his arm."  
Ari tucked the fragment of clothing inside her sleeve pocket and looked at the woman to ask her final question. "Does he have a name?"  
"His name," said the old woman softly, closing her traveling sack, "is InuYasha."  
***  
Ari stared at the piece of cloth in her hand. That woman was really strange. But if she's given me a job, I guess I shouldn't worry. Suddenly she froze as a scent hit her. She bolted to hide behind a bush as a splash sounded from not too far away.  
A human? This far up in the mountains? Ari took a deep breath, gathering all she could from the surrounding forest. A human female? Why isn't she with someone? She could get hurt.  
She noted that a gentle crosswind carried both of their scents away, down the mountain. If she had any companions, she wouldn't have smelled them. The girl could very well not be alone. She realized with dismay when she had dived behind the bush, she had moved into the crosswind. She muttered under her breath and decided not to take the chance of moving.  
Bathing in the hot spring, the girl didn't seem one to fear. Ari watched her, a gentle frown furrowing her brow. She could see her from the shoulders up, since she was underwater. She had long black hair, curling slightly, and deep brown eyes. She'd never seen a human girl up close before, especially one so near her age. Ari however, knew common decency, and turned her attention away from the girl. Privacy was something she was fond of, herself.  
"You had better not be peeking," the girl said abruptly, startling Ari before she realized the girl wasn't speaking to her, but to someone in the trees.  
"I never do, stupid," came the curt reply. "Miroku, get back here!" Ari tried to draw in scents, but couldn't smell anything. Stupid wind. So she had companions. By the sound of it, two. The speaking companion had a clear voice, probably a young man. His voice had not deepened much with age. He sounded a bit like her father, but with much more force behind it. Almost as if he were perpetually angry.  
"Is Shippo still off somewhere?" another girl's voice. Ari's breath hitched. This girl had four companions?  
"He must be, Sango," a deep voice of a different young man sounded. Ari guessed it was Miroku. "Or else he would be here, wouldn't he?"  
"He gets himself into trouble when he's alone," the girl who must have been Sango said softly. "I hope he's all right." She walked into Ari's sight range. She had very long, strait black hair that she untied as she approached the hot spring. She looked slightly older than Ari. Perhaps sixteen. She dunked her feet into the spring.  
The wind was shifting slightly. Ari half-smiled. She didn't feel like she was eavesdropping, and anyway, she would move along soon. This was too interesting.  
"That kid better not get himself killed," the first young man said again.  
"Oh, you care?" the first girl asked, looking at her nails.  
"No, I don't care, Kagome," he answered curtly. "I think he's more trouble than he's worth."  
Come on wind, shift a little more... Ari thought. Or at least move into my sight, this is driving me nuts. Ari shifted slightly, trying to see through the bush. She smiled when she saw the face of a young man, maybe eighteen or nineteen years old. He had jet-black hair tied in a short ponytail at the nape of his neck. She caught sight of his jingling staff, strung with metal rings. So he was a monk. She rolled her eyes. He probably wasn't very tough.  
"Shippo may be mischievous," the young monk said in a deep, calm voice. "But he's a nice enough child."  
"Feh. Don't go all 'Servant of Buddha' on me again, Miroku," the other young man said. "That act doesn't fool m-"  
"Stop picking fights!" Kagome, the girl Ari had seen first, exclaimed. "Turn around.." there was a splash and a rustle of clothing as she put her clothes back on. Ari caught sight of something glinting at her throat. A necklace? Before she could get a better look, the girl called Kagome dropped the glinting thing under her shirt.  
A tiny sound, like the cooing of a small bird, startled Ari. It was coming from right next to her. She jumped slightly and looked down into the red eyes of a little cat. It was a pretty little thing, with fluffy white fur and black stripes on its paws, ears and two fluffy tails. There was a diamond-shaped black mark on its forehead.  
"Beow!" it said again, and blinked. Ari cocked her head and looked at it, as if trying to find out whether it meant her any harm. She could find no aggressive look in the small creature. In fact, it was very cute.  
"That sounds like Kirara!" exclaimed Sango, and the cat's ears pricked up. It bounded through the bush into Sango's waiting arms a few feet away. Ari blinked, and then something nagged at her senses. A strange urge to run.  
"It seems we are being watched," Sango said in a low voice. "Over.. there!" Ari's heart skipped a beat as something came flying through the air at her. She dodged easily, but the giant thing had chased her into the open by mowing down the bush. The giant boomerang, no doubt made from the bone of a gargantuan demon, returned to Sango's grip, making her slide back several feet from the force.  
Ari's tail swished slightly as she gently alighted on the branch of a tall tree. They had all seen her. This was not good. The monk called Miroku raised his right gloved hand, and for some reason Ari felt herself being pulled from the tree's branches, and landed at the base with a very undignified thunk.  
"OW! What was that for?!" Ari exclaimed, rubbing her back. "I've spent my life falling out of trees, and now you make me fall on purpose?"  
"Why were you spying on us?" Kagome asked, walking forward a few steps.  
"I wasn't spying," Ari said forcibly, then she rubbed the back of her head and felt her face flush. "Well, I guess I was. But that's not what I set out to do. Sorry."  
"Wait a minute!" Sango caught sight of her ears and tail. "You're..."  
"You're a halfling too?" the first young man pushed past the others to the front. Ari's breath hitched again.  
He had dog ears, long silver hair, and tawny eyes. His red outfit, much like hers, was missing a small bit of fabric. And the scabbard of a sword was tied to his waist.  
Ari was frozen for a moment. She couldn't move, couldn't speak. Finally she came to her senses, closed her mouth and stood up.  
"Are you InuYasha?" she asked as she lay a hand on the hilt of her sword.  
"Yes," he said slowly, his eyes narrowing in comprehension. "What do you want?"  
"My name was Arimikoe," Ari said carefully, pronouncing each word with care. "But when my father died, I decided that he would be the only one allowed to call me by my real name. So now to everyone else, I am Ari, the demon slayer.  
"But you, InuYasha, may call me your death."  
  
Kagome gave a short scream of shock as Ari drew her katana and crouched in a ready stance.  
"So, it's a fight you want," InuYasha's mouth curved into a please smirk. "and it's a fight you'll get, kid." InuYasha's smirk became wider and more menacing as he cracked his knuckles in the air. "Stay back, guys," he cracked the knuckles on his other hand. "She's all mine."  
Ari's eyes narrowed as he shot forward. She jumped into the air, only to be shocked as he matched her jump as effortlessly as she had. And she was shocked nearly out of her mind when the branch she was about to land on exploded into splinters, drowning out his yell.  
As he swung at it with his bare hands.  
Ari's heart fluttered as she came down and landed easily in the grass. "What happened?"  
"Iron reaver soul stealer!!" InuYasha dug his claws into the earth where she had been standing just moments ago. "What do you think, stupid? It's my attack."  
"With your claws?" Ari's eyes narrowed.  
"I'm thinking you're either very skilled or very stupid," InuYasha looked off into the trees with a nonchalant expression on his face. "But judging how you've managed to dodge two of my full-out attacks, but then again how you think you're good enough to challenge me, I'm thinking it's a little of both."  
"Draw already!" Ari glared at him. "I don't have all day, you know!"  
"A bit demanding, isn't she?" asked Miroku, turning to Kagome.  
Kagome gave a short nod.  
"Draw!" Ari's eyes blazed with anger. "Ya think I have a reason for being here or what?!"  
"Don't steam over it," InuYasha put a hand on the hilt of the sword and drew.  
Ari was surprised again. Well, surprised probably wasn't the word. More like amazed. As soon as he started to draw the sword, a light came from the scabbard that did something to it. Ari shielded her eyes from the glare, and when the light faded, she looked back.  
The blade had overly doubled in length and width, and a flowing patch of fur had appeared at the mouth of the hilt. Ari had no clue what had happened to it, but it looked very lethal.  
"...woah." Ari gasped. Then she grinned, seeing the weakness in the weapon. "The old lady wasn't kidding when she said you carried a sword. Too bad it won't go to use after-"  
"Wait a moment," InuYasha frowned and rested the back of the huge curving blade over his shoulder. "Why did you come here to kill me? You a bounty hunter or something?"  
Ari's eyes narrowed. "Hell no. You should know why I'm here."  
"Sorry, I don't." He looked genuinely confused.  
"You should rack your memory. And be more careful of who you kill," Ari spat the words as if they tasted awful. "Not that what I've told you will help you much in the future, seeing as you're dying in a matter of minutes."  
"Really? Show me," his eyes narrowed. "Empty threats won't help you."  
"Oh, shut up!" Ari flew at him and sliced into the air. The results were better than expected, but not as good as she would have liked. He had shot backwards in enough time to keep her downward sweep from splitting his head open, but not fast enough to escape a nasty cut on his cheek.  
He put his hand to the side of his face as bright red blood seeped to the surface. He looked surprised for a moment, then pleased. "First blood huh?"  
"I'm serious about this. Is fighting all you can think about?" Ari shot back. "Look, you may talk tough, but are you sure you can back it up?"  
His expression flickered for a moment. "What did you say?"  
"are you sure you can back it up?"  
"Yes," InuYasha leaped into the air at her, swinging the sword downwards. "I... CAN!!" The sword dug into the ground as Ari leaped over him, cutting downwards into his shoulder with her momentum. A custom move of hers. More of his blood dripped to the ground, staining it.  
Suddenly Ari was pulled back in time as she somersaulted in the air and slid a few feet when she hit the dirt. When she had felt the sword connect with her father's flesh.  
Why am I remembering this now? Ari asked herself. Is it the smell of blood? Even the blood of a halfling .... I... why can't I stand?  
Ari's world exploded back to the present as a clean cut erupted across her right side in an inferno of searing pain. Ari jumped out of the way as the blade came down again, exactly where she had crouched a moment before. She frowned as blood came away in her hands.  
"Heh. Is that all you've got?" InuYasha stood up and smirked at her.  
It's time to end this, Ari thought. Before I lose myself again. He's a killer. A CHILDKILLER. Don't you forget what you came here for!  
Ari raised her sword and took a deep breath of air as her eyes clouded over to dark blue. To do this, she would need to let go of her thoughts, and think only of slaying him.  
Slay him.  
Ari shot forward, ready to make five thrusts of blade in the blink of an eye. To finish him before he knew what happened.  
Slay him.  
  
The arrow came out of nowhere, it seemed like. It was as much a mental blow as a physical one. It shocked Ari back to the present, and with it nearly all the way through her just below her left shoulder, it was quite a shock. Her blue eyes opened wide as her small body flew backwards with the force of the blow.  
She landed hard on the ground, the wind knocked out of her. She didn't feel much pain, but then, she was half demon, why would she have?  
How could... who? Ari glanced up, breathing hard. Someone.. is a very good archer.. I was moving so fast.. who?  
Kagome was holding a bow. She stepped forward, anger in her eyes and her shaking voice. "Get out of here. And I don't want you to come back!"  
Ari's eyes widened. Was this girl.. angry? With her?  
"I don't know what you have against InuYasha, or whatever the hell you are, but he would never hurt anyone. So why you're attacking him is beyond me, and really, I don't care. Just go!"  
"Kagome..." Ari's eyes half-closed. "You're a human, right?"  
Kagome nodded, trembling with anger.  
"Why aren't you afraid of me...?" Ari asked. She reached for the arrow in her shoulder to pull it out. It gave a strange humming sound before being surrounded with a white light that preventing Ari from touching it. Her eyes widened.  
"Forget about getting that arrow out," Kagome said angrily, while everyone else stood by in shocked silence. "Only a human can remove it. It repels demons, but since you're a halfling, it isn't killing you. If you ever come to your senses, I can pull it out for you. But don't count on me cooling down anytime soon. Now beat it."  
Ari was only too happy to oblige. This mortal.. had some sort of strange power. Could she be a priestess? Ari wondered. Never mind that.  
But to get to InuYasha, I need to have a better plan. This calls for the Reykiryuu.  
  
Almost three days later, Ari was stationed in a tall, sweeping tree, her eyes closed in relaxation. Watching InuYasha and the others was giving her a headache. How in the world could they fight so much? She shuffled over, peering down again at the them. They had all finally gone to sleep. Good thing the wind was blowing towards her. There was no way for InuYasha to catch her scent. Ari had done some mild observing and found that he had an even better sense of smell then she did, for all her training.  
Ari made an annoyed noise in the back of her throat. Wasn't Kagome ever going to leave the group? She couldn't attack if she was around. She shuffled again, trying to ignore the pain in her side and the arrow still sticking out of her shoulder. This is so annoying! She thought, and again made a futile try of touching the arrow. It didn't work. She sighed and shifted again, trying to get comfortable.  
It had been awhile now since she had returned to her father's grave, and after performing the necessary rites of the dead, hoping the souls would forgive her, dug with her hands until she unearthed the box.  
Now the legendary Reykiryuu hung at her side. She longed to take it out and practice, hoping to uncover the secrets of the blade. But she couldn't risk it yet. The sword had powerful properties, properties that might put innocent people in danger if she were so careless as to draw it if she didn't need to fight. When she had the sword strapped to her side, Ari felt invincible, and as if she were carrying a bit of her father with her.  
She wasn't sure yet as to whether the sword's properties were dangerous to her or not. Kenshin had told her amazing stories of what the burn mark on the hilt meant. If it was wielded by one who had a matching mark, infused with the same power, then it was the sword that could defeat anyone. The weapon had almost a will of its own, and would protect her.  
Ari had no idea what he meant by that. It wasn't as if it could attack on its own. But.. what about the time when she had lost her memory? ...  
Ari had been perhaps eight years old, and just becoming a serious apprentice. Her training had doubled in intensity in the past few months, and aside from that, she was hardly capable of standing up when it came to be after supper, she was so wiped out from the training of the day.  
It was around this time that Ari had fallen gravely ill. Her father had stayed by her bedside for days when she could not rise from her bed. She was sure she would die, but Kenshin kept insisting that she would get better.  
One night, Ari was sure it would be the last of her life. She was coughing up blood and nothing would stay down. The world before her eyes was swimming, and she was never sure if she was conscious or not.  
"Daddy," Ari whispered when she came conscious late that night. "It hurts..."  
"I know it does, Arimikoe.." Kenshin squeezed her small hand and wiped a spot of blood off her face. "We should call a monk. This may have been caused by a demon, and he could get rid of it for us."  
"No!!" Ari said forcibly, shooting up. She leaned forward and coughed hard for a few minutes. When she looked up again, there was blood on her lips. "I don't want a human coming here. You know what they say about me." Ari's eyes shone with tears. "I'd rather die than have anyone hating me for what I am."  
Kenshin's eyes narrowed in pity. Then he abruptly sat up and went to the storage closet. He rummaged around in the top shelf for a few minutes while Ari slipped off into unconsciousness again.  
When she came to, he was sitting next to her and unlocking a wooden box. "Well, then would you like to try this?" he asked, seeing her open her eyes. "Hold onto this and you'll sleep peacefully." Kenshin took out a sheathed katana with a burn mark and two red strings trailing from its hilt. "This blade is enchanted with magic from a powerful legendary creature, related to you."  
Ari looked up at him in amazement. "Me?" she reached out and he placed the blade in her hands.  
As soon as Ari's small clawed fingertips touched the sword, she felt a strange heat radiating through her body. She closed her clouded blue eyes as the pulsing warmth flooded through her, making her forget the pain of the illness. She lay back down, feeling breath escape her. She felt almost well. It was as if the spirit of the creature were inside the blade, lying next to her, protecting her.  
"I thought so," Kenshin whispered and gently brushed a strand of tawny hair from her flushed cheek. "That mark on your side matches the mark on the hilt of the blade."  
Ari rested peacefully as Kenshin continued talking to himself, but she could hear him faintly through the daze. "To think that my daughter has such power at rest inside of her. It's only a matter of her finding it. Or it finding her." She turned over and opened her eyes to look out the window at the stars, but then there was a strange red light flooding her vision, and she blacked out.  
That was the last thing Ari knew before she woke up in a strange place. It seemed like the cabin, but she could see through the walls. She could hear her father's voice as if it were underwater, yelling her name. Ari tried to move, but it was like she was a spirit. Where am I? She wondered faintly, as if her mind were not her own. Am I dreaming?  
That voice... I've never heard daddy sound so strange. As if he's afraid of something. What? Ari hugged herself. I want to wake up! This feels so weird!!  
A few moments later, she awoke outside in the sunshine filtering through the trees. Kenshin was a few feet away, with blood on his robes...  
  
"Whatcha doing?" a voice asked, snapping her back to the present with a muffled gasp. Ari drew the Reykiryuu in panic and pointed it at the speaker, breathing hard.  
"Woah.." the tiny fox-demon boy looked at her with huge tawny eyes. "You're not used to being snuck up on, are you?" He moved the sharp point away from his face. "Careful where you wave that thing, don't you know swords hurt?!"  
"Wha???" Ari hesitantly sheathed her sword. She couldn't smell any danger from him.. he was only a child, after all. Even being a demon, he didn't seem like he would hurt her. "Who.. who are you?" she asked, backing slightly away. The tiny kitsune was a little too close for comfort.  
"Me?" he asked, as if no one had ever asked that question before. "My name's Shippo. I'm a fox-demon, and by the look of it, you are too."  
"Uh... actually I'm just a halfling... hanyou." Ari looked a little sheepish. Was she actually holding a conversation with someone? "My name's Ari."  
"Well Ari, what are you doing in this tree?" Shippo asked innocently, swishing his fluffy tail. "Are you spying on them?"  
"Sort of," Ari admitted. She moved a little then nearly cursed as a branch snagged her robes, ripping her clumsy stitching and revealing the healing wound in her right side.  
"Are you okay Ari?" Shippo asked, staring at the wound on her side from InuYasha's blade. Suddenly his eyes went wide, and he reached out and lightly traced the reddish birthmark on her side with his little fingers. "Woah.."  
"Yeah, I was born with it," Ari said sadly. "Some sort of mark of a rare kind of kitsune demon. The Kiryuu. Ever heard of it?" She asked, wondering if the little boy might know something she didn't.  
"Arimikoe..." Shippo whispered.  
"Huh?" Ari asked, shifting away from his huge, accusing tawny eyes. "I never told you my full name.."  
The tiny kitsune's face slid into an expression of surprise and wonder. "Mama told me, before she was gone, that... that one with that mark is born only every few thousand years. When the red star can be seen in the sky."  
"But that doesn't explain how you know my name," Ari frowned.  
"Mama also told me your name," Shippo said in almost speechless, shy wonder. "b'cuz she knew you when you were little." Shippo traced the bark of the tree with his tiny fingertips, his red-gold hair fluffing in the breeze. "She knew you really well."  
"What are you getting at, Shippo?" Ari asked, growing more confused by the second. "I don't know any kitsune demon-"she stopped as she felt her breath catch in her throat. Could the little fox really be saying what she thought he was?  
"Ari..." Shippo looked up at her with sparkling eyes. "....my mama was your mama too," Shippo said softly, almost shyly, summing up her thoughts quite nicely.  
"Oh.. oh m'god.." Ari whispered and felt herself becoming lightheaded, then she fell out of the tree, landing at the base with a very undignified thump.  
"Ari!" Shippo jumped down to examine the girl hanyou for any more injuries. "You okay?"  
"I will be.." Ari whispered, feeling her head spinning. "I just need time to.. adjust."  
"But-"Shippo crawled into her lap, then let out another gasp of shock. "Ari, why's there one of Kagome's arrows in your shoulder?!"  
"B'cuz she shot me.." Ari said absently. "B'cuz I was fighting InuYasha.." Ari suddenly shot up and said, "excuse me.." and then sped off into the trees. The sound of retching could be heard quite a ways away, and then Shippo decided to follow.  
"Sorry," Shippo said incredulously, "I didn't mean to scare you. I guess it's a lot to take in at once." He sat down on a rock beside the overgrown path with sun filtering through the trees and stared at the sky.  
"You have no idea," Ari whispered shakily, sitting down beside Shippo on the rock. "How much of a shock this really is. I actually have family now. I mean, you're part of my flesh and blood! And I thought the last died a long time ago.." Ari's blue eyes clouded over in sadness.  
"So." She cleared her throat, then looked good-naturedly over at the little boy, her half-brother. "So. How did you come to be traveling..." a strange prickling lit the back of her mind. Wait. She had heard Shippo's name before.. Kagome and the others had commented about him. It had to be the same kid.  
"Oh, I started traveling with InuYasha and Kagome almost six months ago," Shippo looked up at her. "They.. helped me get revenge for dad's death."  
Right.. Ari thought. Shippo and I have the same mother, but different fathers. He must be talking about HIS father... so we're in the same boat here.  
"Wait.. you mean Kagome and InuYasha helped you? They didn't try to hurt you?" Ari asked, frowning in confusion.  
"Oh yeah, will you tell me why you tried to attack InuYasha?" Shippo asked curiously, cocking his head. "He's a nice enough guy, give or take a few quirks..."  
"I.. I was sent to kill him, I'm a demon assassin," Ari explained. "He's responsible for the murder of three kids." Ari's eyes clouded over.  
"Who told you that? No way!!" Shippo asked incredulously. Ari studied him. No way the child kitsune could be lying. He was just too young to lie so convincingly. And... why again would he lie to his own flesh and blood?  
And Ari could smell it now. It really was true. There were similarities between Shippo's scent and hers, other than just being of the fox blood, but another scent. One that Ari, somewhere in the back of her repressed shards of instincts, knew was a family scent. And.. and..  
He was just so KUWAII!!!! Of course he had to be her little brother!!  
But back to the real problem. She was now responsible for pissing off a miko, a monk, a demon slayer and a very hostile half-demon. She knew she should go apologize, but... why not stall?  
"The woman who told me gave me this," Ari felt the words fly out of her mouth as she took the piece of InuYasha's sleeve out of her hidden pocket. "To help me track him. She said he lost it when he was fleeing the village and got hit by an arrow."  
Shippo took the small red piece of cloth and looked it over. "Yeah, this is InuYasha's all right. But he didn't lose it there, Ari." Shippo turned it over in his little hands. "He lost it while fighting a particularly strong demon, one by the name of Naraku."  
"Naraku?" Ari asked, trying out the name. "Sorry, never heard of him."  
"He's a really mean demon," Shippo pouted. "A shapeshifter. He must have been the one who told you that!!" Shippo exclaimed, excited with himself for finding a possible solution to the mystery that led to the appearance of his older sister.  
"Apparently, InuYasha's after him because of some sort of 'betrayal'," Shippo continued. "I don't know the details though." Shippo pouted still more sadly. "B'cuz they don't think I'm old enough to understand. I understand plenty, Ari, I-"  
Ari suddenly shot up, sniffing the air and holding up a hand for Shippo to be quiet. "We.." Ari turned to face him, a look of anger in her sky- blue, glittering eyes. ".....we're not alone.  
"Shippo," Ari whispered and pointed to the bushes behind her. "Go hide. Don't come out unless I say it's okay, got it?" she asked gently, then carefully drew the Reykiryuu.  
"So it's you." A voice that seemed perpetually angry flew through the air and waved around Ari's ears. "I thought I smelled you." InuYasha stepped out of the underbrush.  
"InuYasha?" Ari lowered her sword. "Sorry, I thought I smelled youkai."  
InuYasha's features puckered in a confused look. "So you're not going to try and kill me this time?" he asked.  
"Oh!" Ari turned around and whispered into the bushes. "Sorry, Shippo.... you can come out now."  
The young kitsune toddled out from behind the bushes.  
"Darn it. I thought you guys were gonna fight," he pouted.  
"Sorry, Shippo-Chan." Ari looked over at InuYasha. "I.. guess I have a lot to... apologize for...."  
"Apparently," InuYasha said matter-of-factly, crossing his arms. "And a lot of explaining for being such a bitch..."  
"InuYasha!!" Kagome's voice cut through the trees. "Osuwari!!"  
"AHHGGGHH....." InuYasha landed face-first in the dirt. Ari stepped back slightly, a bit startled, and then she saw the rosary around his neck glowing. So he was bound to her by a powerful spell, eh?  
"I'm sorry, he can be so rude," Kagome crossed her arms and looked into the smoking hole InuYasha was lying in. "I heard you're not trying to kill him anymore."  
"That's right!!" Shippo piped up. "Wait.. Ari, you're the psycho girl he was talking about?!"  
"Psycho?! Erk.." Ari sat down. "Hmph. Oh well, I guess I sort of deserved all that." She mindlessly massaged the area behind her ear with her fingers. "Trying to kill the guy and all.. when he was traveling with my own flesh and blood."  
Kagome wasn't really listening. She'd crossed over the trail to sit down in front of Ari, quite mesmerized by Ari's deft fingers moving one of her own furry, black-tipped fox ears.  
She blinked and reached out with both hands to grasp the tips of both Ari's ears, rubbing the said soft-furred appendages between her fingers. Ari sat there blinking for a moment, before trying to tug away from Kagome's grasp.  
"Yeah. Ears." Ari rubbed one of them with her hand. That had felt weird. "Look, it's Kagome, right?" she asked, and that seemed to snap Kagome back to the present. She gave a weak, embarrassed laugh before nodding.  
"Yes, my name's Kagome," she smiled, her warm brown eyes fluttering closed in friendliness. "And you're Ari."  
"Uh.." Ari looked sheepish. "Yes. And... your arrow is still in my shoulder." Ari said, a comical sweat drop appearing on her head.  
"Oh!!" Kagome laughed and deftly pulled it out, with surprisingly, only a small amount of pain. "Sorry 'bout that. I was having a bad day. And with Miroku peeping and all... someone else trying to attack us was just the last straw."  
Ari nodded politely. She couldn't ever remember having lost her temper with anybody. But still.. she must always try to be polite.. even if she had no idea what the hell Kagome was talking about. She was nice enough.  
InuYasha staggered to his feet behind Kagome.  
"Y...y...you...." he growled at the dark-haired girl. "What the hell was that for?!"  
"Quit it, InuYasha!" Kagome glared over her shoulder at him. "Ari wants to be friends with us now!!"  
"You actually believe her?!" InuYasha exploded, streaking up to push Kagome and Shippo out of the way. "All right then. Let me have my say!!"  
Ari leaned back slightly as InuYasha leaned forward, sizing her up with his hard stare. "hmm..." his nose quivered slightly, taking in her scent.  
"InuYasha!" Kagome yelled. "You're being rude!!"  
Ari leaned back so far she fell over, but InuYasha crawled over her to continue staring in her face. Ari's paste-on, polite smile fell into confusion and shock as he leaned close and whispered so only she could hear,  
"You don't smell of evil at all, kid. Why?" the tawny, brittle jewels of his eyes suddenly fell out of sight as he blinked. "You're a hanyou, but all I smell on you is youkai blood. Why?!" he asked again, this time more forcibly. Ari blinked and turned red. Why is he so close?  
The eyes narrowed, then turned soft for a moment. "She can stay." he said gently.  
  
"Why in the world would he let me stay?" Ari asked Shippo as she cleaned her crimson top in the river, wearing her short-sleeved white topknot and her regular Battousai pants. Her whole outfit was much almost exactly like InuYasha's, even the same red color, except the undershirt was short- sleeved. She shook the drying top and placed it over a tree branch so it could dry all the way. "He doesn't seem like the forgiving type." Ari's light skin rippled in the warm breeze of the new morning.  
"No idea. Maybe because you're a hanyou like him, he decided to give you a chance. Maybe he sensed you've been through similar pain."  
"What kind of pain?" Ari scoffed. "He's got you guys behind him, as friends and companions. I don't really have anyone except for you, Shippo."  
The little kitsune's eyes disappeared for a moment as he blinked, his face drawn in concern. "InuYasha apparently went through quite a bit. He lost his parents, just like we did, but it was another blow altogether when Kikyo died."  
"Kikyo? Nani?" Ari asked, moving the Reykiryuu farther from the water of the river. She looked over her shoulder at the boy who was her only family.  
"Kikyo was the girl InuYasha loved," Shippo said with an air of explaining something that couldn't be explained.  
"She was his mate?" Ari asked, cocking her head in confusion.  
"No, not really. She was the priestess InuYasha loved. But-"  
"NANI?!" Ari asked in exasperation. "I hear words, but they don't make sense! Are you saying that they were mated, and yet not mates?!"  
"No way!!" Shippo waved his hands nervously in front of him. "They weren't mates, and they never did that!"  
Ari lapsed into a confused silence and sat down, a puzzled frown darkening her features. "So... he was her friend?"  
"They weren't friends, they loved each other," Shippo explained. "Why are you acting as if you don't know what I'm talking about when I say 'love'?"  
Ari looked up, biting her lip. "My..." she paused, trying to think hard before saying anything. "My father and I lived all alone, so I don't have very good people skills... I hardly saw anyone else, because I didn't want to be hassled for being a halfling..." she paused again. "My dad explained to me why demons become mates, and why humans marry...." she frowned, thinking madly. "To reproduce. He explained how that worked," Ari blushed furiously. "But I still don't understand what you mean. They weren't friends, they weren't mates, and they never did... that. So how would it hurt him if she died?"  
"Because he loved her," Shippo said simply.  
"Were they family?" Ari asked, growing more confused by the second.  
"NO!!" Shippo yelled. "He loved her. That's why it hurt him when she died!"  
"But how could he love her if she wasn't family?!" Ari shot back. Shippo frowned at her and then walked up and poked her shoulder, realization coming over his face.  
"I get it, Ari! You don't know what love is!!" he exclaimed in shock. "Wow."  
"Right," Ari said faintly, confirming Shippo's suspicions. "Can you explain it to me then? You're acting as if I should be born knowing what love is."  
"You should." Shippo said simply, his eyes turning soft. "I had no idea it was possible that anyone would not know what love is!"  
"Oh, you're making me feel so much better," Ari said sarcastically. "Fine. I'll ask InuYasha himself about it!" she stood up and pulled her now- dry crimson top over her head, then tied the Reykiryuu back to her side with the sash.  
"I wouldn't do that..." Shippo said shakily, tugging at her baggy pants. "I... don't think he would very happy about me telling you about Kikyo.."  
"Nani?" Ari asked again, pulling the tie out of her hair and letting it spill over her shoulders, free from its ponytail. "Is it a secret or something?" She put it up again, neater this time.  
"I dunno," Shippo said, shaking his head. "He just gets so touchy every time someone brings her up."  
Ari looked at the rising sun, all emotion leaving her face. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking. "He's a hanyou like me. And yet he understands this," Ari said quietly. "The last time I waited so long to ask about something, it ended with my father's death. I'm not going to go on with this hangin' over my head. I got some thinking to do," Ari concluded. "Don't worry about me, I just need some time alone. I'll be back in a few days."  
With that Ari tugged her pant leg out of Shippo's grasp and walked off into the woods.  
  
Ari made good time. Only two days to reach a town, from the middle of nowhere, going top speed most of the time. It was amazing how long it had been since she had been in a village, much less using coins for what she needed. Pulling off her overshirt to wrap around her and cover her ears and tail, Ari walked through the crowd in the marketplace, looking for a food vendor.  
She finally found a shop that sold stew cheap enough for her to buy, and bought a bowl. As the man was handing her the chopsticks she'd need, Ari's mind was completely abuzz with her thoughts. She carried the bowl over to the mountainside just outside the village, put her shirt back on, and began to eat the tasteless contents of the bowl.  
"So.. love..." She said dreamily, looking at the sky as she chewed. "I expect everyone knows what it is," she sadly, looked into the bowl and took another bite. "Even InuYasha knows, and he's the most unlikely one to have experienced it, by the way he acts," she frowned and directed her comments to the tasteless food in front of her.  
"It must mean.. something like family love," Ari said softly, swallowing. "Like me and my dad... but.. but how could someone be so close to a non-family member and call it love? This world gets more confusing the longer I live in it," she commented as if the stew should give its opinion. "This love thing is getting on my nerves. I feel like I should know more, but who to talk to?"  
She leaned back from her seat on a fallen tree and let out a gasp of shock, the bowl dropping from her hand into the grass.  
"Couldn't help overhearing," the young man said, smiling. "Sorry to scare you."  
Ari shot up, fighting down the burst of fear in her throat. "People don't often sneak up on me, sorry," she said absently, lowering her hand from the hilt of the Reykiryuu.  
"Sorry," he said again, still smiling, though it didn't extend to his eyes. She studied the young man. He was about Miroku's size, clad in a simple topknot, overshirt and pants. His long black hair fell into blue- green eyes, and the full length was tied in a ponytail. Ari drew in his scent. Human.  
"My name is Sayo Tenshi," he said lightly, smiling wider. "What's yours?"  
"Himura Arimikoe," Ari answered. He apparently meant her no harm. Maybe he wanted her do kill a demon for him or something. She could use a job. "Call me Ari."  
"Himura?" He muttered as if the family name struck a cord, then dropped the surprised look. "Well Ari," Tenshi said politely, holding out his hand to her. "I can teach you what love is," his face softened and Ari felt a sinking sensation in her stomach, but ignored it. "Come with me."  
Ari took his hand.  
  
They stopped walking when they came to a clearing in the woods, completely secluded from the nearby village.  
"This will do," Tenshi removed his overshirt, commenting on the heat. Ari shrugged and looked at the sky, barely hearing him. So he would help her to understand this thing called love, eh? She leaned against a tree.  
What was the catch?  
"Huh? Sorry, say it again," Ari murmured, coming out of her daze of thought.  
"I was asking you if you were hot," he said politely, and without waiting for her reply, slipped her red overshirt over her head.  
"I'm fine," she replied as Tenshi gently lay her blade aside. That's when her alarm went off. "Hey, don't touch my sword-"  
"You won't be needing it, miss," Tenshi said lightly, moving closer to her. She instinctively moved the opposite direction, then realized he had her pinned against a tree.  
"Hey, what're you-"she asked angrily.  
"Quiet," he grabbed her wrist. "Do you want to know or not?"  
"Let me go!" she twisted in his grip, but lacked the strength to pull away.  
"I said QUIET, GIRL!!!!!" Tenshi growled, his polite smile being replaced by a menacing smirk that made her feel panicky. She twisted again, a spark of fear growing in her eyes.  
I'm an idiot! She thought, pressing herself against the tree. He's going to... I've got to get away!!  
Ari twisted again, growing more frantic. He grabbed for her other wrist, but she was too fast for him. He pressed his palm into her shoulder instead, pinning her against the tree.  
"Let.. me.. go!!" Ari gasped, as the full impact of what was happening hit her. She felt a burst of real fear for the first time in her life. "You're hurting me!!"  
"Stop moving or I'll really hurt you!" he ordered pressed into her harder with his hands.  
"LEMME GO!!!" Ari yelled and squirmed with all her strength, "HELP!!!" she screamed, hoping that some, anyone, could hear her.  
"SHUT UP!!" Tenshi yanked her away from the tree and onto the ground, gripping her shoulder and her wrist. He purposely pressed his thumb into her wounded side, and she gasped in pain.  
I'm an idiot... oh gods, I can't believe I was so stupid.. Ari lay there gasping, wishing she were just two minutes in the past.  
Tenshi smiled and reached for the tie to her shirt. "Good girl. Now you get your reward for being so-"  
He paused over her for a moment, letting out a small noise, and then fell on top of her.  
A strong clawed hand gripped his shoulder and rolled him off, and Ari came face to face with InuYasha.  
"That bastard," InuYasha said distastefully, sheathing his sword. There was a pause in time as Ari met his stare. Then he scowled. "Taking advantage of a girl who didn't have any way to fight back."  
"I..." Ari blinked and sat up. Why was InuYasha here?! "I can so fight back!"  
"You didn't seem to be having much luck," he smirked and put his hands behind his head. "You should learn to deal with jerks like him." InuYasha spun around and began walking in the opposite direction. "You're pretty easily fooled."  
"You... you didn't kill him, did you?" Ari asked shakily, pulling her overshirt on over her head and tying the sash.  
"Feh. I knocked him out with the hilt," InuYasha answered. "Although he did to deserve to die, doing something so damned low..." he shook his head and sighed, then began walking again. Ari deftly strapped the Reykiryuu to her side and jogged after him.  
"InuYasha, wait!" she yelled. He waved over his shoulder and kept walking. "Why did you save me?!" she asked.  
He stopped for a moment and paused. "It's obvious, isn't it, baka?" he asked. "I was in the neighborhood," he made a casual sweeping gesture and started walking again, refusing to look at her. "It's not like I really care what happened, just that I had to save you. I have that annoying little thing called a conscince."  
"Woah, woah, woah... wait a second," Ari caught up with him and grabbed his shoulder, turning him to face her. "You were in the neighborhood?! Where are the others?!"  
"Back at camp," InuYasha said lightly, then blinked as he realized the look in Ari's eyes.  
"Camp is miles away from here!!" Ari exclaimed. "You were following me!!" she realized.  
"Eh??!" InuYasha took a step backwards. "Baka! Why would I follow YOU?!"  
Ari clenched her fists and looked away. Maybe he was telling the truth. But then... "Wait. Then why were you in hearing range? Shippo told you to follow me, didn't he?!"  
"No," InuYasha shook his head. "Feh. He said you had gone off on your own and would be back in..." he stopped, looked up at her, a strange fleeting look in his eyes. "Yeah, he asked me to follow you!" he turned around and started walking again, back towards camp.  
Ari frowned again. Wait... he said that last part too quickly. He was lying, she was sure of it. She growled low in the back of her throat and dashed ahead, jumping squarely in his path, blocking him from going farther.  
"You're lying!" she accused, pointing a finger in his face. "Shippo didn't ask you to follow me! I can tell by the look in your eyes!"  
"Oh, NOW you think you can catch lies?!" he burst out at her angrily, ignoring the question. "I saved your ass, admit it!"  
"Hmph. As soon as you admit you followed me," Ari answered stubbornly. "And not before."  
InuYasha "Feh'd" loudly, momentary raised his hands as if aching to strangle her. "You are the most infuriating girl I've ever met!!" he yelled, and then shook his head. "Fine. I followed you. Happy?!" his angry demeanor fell away for a moment.  
Ari's face softened. Then she looked down and mumbled a reply, hoping her face wouldn't turn red. She hated admitting that she hadn't been able to do something herself. "Thanks for saving me, InuYasha. You're not such a jerk, you know?"  
InuYasha glared as if she had insulted him, then made a sweeping motion as if brushing off the remark. "I didn't ask you to thank me." He brushed past her and resumed walking toward camp. "Come on, girl. We've got a long way back to go."  
Ari followed silently behind him, wondering vaguely why he had chosen to follow her. She looked up at the slowly darkening sky at the waning moon, and swallowed her fear. The night after the next would be a new moon. And the light from the strange red star would be unhindered and dangerous.  
Ari clenched her fists hard as she followed behind one of the first beings to accept her since her father had gone. Maybe InuYasha was a jerk at times, but she was beginning to see the good in him.  
And she felt she would die if she put any of her new companions, including him, in danger.  
  
"Can you speed it up?" asked Ari for the third time in five minutes. "There's no way we'll get there before tomorrow night at this rate."  
"Look, no need to brag about how fast you can go," Inuyasha let out a "Feh!" and turned his eyes back to the road.  
"Sensitive about being not quite as fast as a little girl?" Ari smirked. "It's no big deal. It's probably because I'm a kitsune hanyou."  
"Look, you may be a girl, but that won't stop me from pummeling you if you don't shut your mouth," Inuyasha warned, his eyes burning through her back as she took off ahead of him.  
"I'm not worried about that," Ari answered, taking long, graceful strides that matched his. "You would have to catch me," she said breezily, her half-closed eyes lingering on something in the distance.  
  
"Arrgh!! I am SO going to kill him when he gets back, running off without saying a word like that, just leaving me to worry over him..." Kagome made a frustrated noise and kicked her backpack onto its side in anger. "Shippo, are you sure he didn't say ANYTHING?!" Kagome turned her attention to the little youkai, who flinched at her sudden fierce outburst.  
"No, nothing," Shippo replied, looking as if it were his fault that Inuyasha had been missing for three days now. "I just told him about the conversation I had with Ari, and then he was gone."  
"He must have gone after her. Boy is he gonna pay when I get my hands around his neck and-"  
"Good mornin'," Inuyasha stepped out of the trees and Kagome let out a happy cry and ran forward to tackle him, then stopped short, catching herself. Barely.  
"Where in the world were you?!" Kagome put her hands on her hips. "Don't act like it's just another morning. You were gone for three days!!"  
Inuyasha pointed over his shoulder as Ari appeared behind him. "Baka here got herself into a little trouble awhile back. But she's okay now."  
Ari's eyes narrowed and she let out a "Hmph!" then she grinned as Shippo hurtled through the air at her, knocking her backwards and onto her butt.  
"Ari, you're back! We were worried!" Shippo exclaimed. "Don't ever do that again!"  
"Who's the kid here?" Ari asked in mild amusement and hugged her brother. "Yeah, I won't do it again.."  
Kagome smiled warmly at the siblings and then a realization came over her face. "Oh! You left without us introducing you to anyone in the group, come on." She grabbed Ari's wrist and dragged her over to where Miroku was asleep, leaning against a tree.  
"Miroku," Kagome leaned down and shook his shoulder. "Meet Ari, she'll be traveling with us from now on," she smiled and went back to the fire.  
"So, the girl hanyou Shippo was talking about," Miroku gave Ari a warm smile. "If you're related to Shippo, you are most certainly a friend of mine." He reached up and grasped her hand, pulling her to sit down with him. "Why is such a pretty girl traveling alone with only a sword to protect her?"  
Ari lay her ears into a relaxed position as she said smoothly, "I like to protect myself."  
Inuyasha coughed.  
"Such a noble woman," Miroku smiled and grasped her hand tighter. "I love that."  
"Uh.." Ari turned bright red. "Thanks, Miroku.." Inuyasha's ears flicked to one side, listening in. Ari rolled her eyes. Like he cares, she thought and turned back to Miroku.  
"Miss Ari," he leaned forward and gave her a sweet smile. "I was wondering.."  
"Hm?" Ari asked and smiled back. "What is it, Miroku?"  
"I was wondering," he said again, and he trailed off for a moment, still holding onto her hand. "If you would do me the honor of bearing me a son."  
"DAH!!" Ari's eyes shot fully open in shock and Inuyasha leapt up and in one motion, Miroku was in a position similar to the 'Osuwari' Kagome had used on Inuyasha.  
Inuyasha's eyes became slits of bored annoyance and he sat back down by the fire. "Can't bring one girl back that you won't hit on, eh Miroku?" he asked nonchalantly.  
Miroku managed a groan.  
"Oh, don't tell me he's at it AGAIN," Sango marched into Ari's view, leaning her giant boomerang against a tree and setting an armload of firewood down. "Poor girl. Don't worry, he asks all cute girls that," she leaned back and stroked the cat-demon Kirara on her lap. "He's an insufferable lech," she commented.  
It was all Ari could do to stay upright. Even if he DID ask "all cute girls" that, it still was unsettling. She shrugged and Shippo climbed into her lap, conking out in about two seconds.  
Kagome scooted over to sit beside Ari, the firelight shining in her black hair. The sun had still yet to rise.  
"Ari, why did you leave like that?" she asked gently, her face holding a gentle concern. "Inuyasha said you could stay."  
"I know he did," Ari whispered back. "I just needed some time alone. I'm not used to being surrounded by people all the time. Just me and my dad."  
Kagome nodded and glanced over at a certain dog hanyou. "Neither is Inuyasha. He's been alone all his life, because his parents died very early on."  
Ari's blue eyes because slits of pity, even though she hardly knew him. "I know how that feels," she replied and crossed her arms and legs, laying Shippo beside her and resting her sheathed katana against her shoulder. She opened her eyes again and smiled at Kagome. Not her usual smile, but one that seemed to hold sad secrets, and an unrecognized pain.  
"You said your father died," Kagome whispered so no one could hear her. "Was he a human or a youkai?"  
"Human," Ari answered. "But he taught me all he knew about the sword, and that's how I became a master Battousai."  
"Battousai?" Kagome's eyes widened in shock. "I know about them, I've learned in school.. let's see, what was it exactly.." she frowned and then let out a small gasp that couldn't have been heard by any human. "you... you said you were a master..."  
Ari nodded and her eyes reflected the first ray of daylight. "Hai."  
"So you were the one who brought an end to his life?" Kagome asked, trying to phrase it as gently as she could, but apparently without much luck. Ari's mouth clenched at the words, and she looked down, her bangs sweeping across her face and hiding her eyes. A single tear sparkled in the firelight as it slid quickly down the side of her face into the top of her haori.  
"Yes. I was the one who killed him," she whispered, keeping it in the softest of volumes so that no one else would hear what she'd said, but even at that level, she couldn't keep her soft, clear voice from shaking. Kagome's hands clenched into themselves, so tightly they drew blood as painful as the expression on her face.  
And a few feet away, Inuyasha's hard tawny eyes softened.  
  
They ran towards each other, the sun shining in their hair, one from the enchanted well, one from the forest. She started yell his name in sheer happiness as she saw the beginnings of a true smile curve his lips. They ran towards each other...  
Like two trains, one from Tokyo and 55 mph, one from Kyoto at-  
"GET BACK HERE, KID!!!!" Inuyasha's angry voice ripped through Kagome's daze of sleep, making her shoot upwards with a gasp of shock as she came back to the present, or rather, the past.  
"Try and catch me!!" Ari yelled tauntingly and ran in circles around Kagome, holding the last apple that Inuyasha had snatched from the tree. She was matching his pace with ease. It was almost sad to watch.  
"Get back here, you little-"  
"Osuwari!" Kagome said in annoyance, though not very forcefully, which only made Inuyasha trip and comically fall on his face, letting out an explicit curse.  
Ari flinched and polished the apple on the front of her haori, turning back to him. She sat down in front of him, holding the apple in both hands and quizzically turning her head from side to side.  
"Ne, Kagome?" she asked as Inuyasha didn't bother getting up, undoubtedly expecting more 'sits'. He mumbled to himself, and Ari could make out a few words she could have lived without hearing.  
"Nani?" Kagome turned to the kitsune hanyou.  
"Never mind." Ari dug her claws into the sides of the apple, drawing juice from its pale insides. With a crisp cracking sound, she pulled it into two halves and purposefully balanced one of them on the top of Inuyasha's head. "Lost the thought."  
Shippo came speeding up and hopped on Kagome's shoulder, saying something to her and pointing back at camp. Apparently she'd fallen asleep out in the forest. Strange, she'd only gone to get a drink of water from the spring, only sat down to rest for a moment..  
"Not again, Miroku..." Kagome muttered and took off toward camp. "Not my bag.."  
Inuyasha raised his head, blinked, and looked around with a bemused expression. "She's gone?"  
"I guess so," Ari shrugged and bit into her half of the apple.  
"Where do you put it anyway?" he muttered, not noticing the other half on his head. "You eat almost as much as Shippo..."  
He narrowed his eyes at her as she looked off into the woods, nonchalantly chewing a bite of the apple. "Hey, I'm still talking here!" he exclaimed, then frowning as she continued to stare off into nowhere. She didn't seem to be purposefully ignoring him, in fact, it was as if her mind had simply checked out.  
It wasn't the only weird thing about her that he'd noticed. Ari never seemed to fall completely asleep like Shippo and the others, even him, would. She just closed her eyes for several hours, her furry black-tipped ears sometimes flicking towards sounds in the distance. He got the feeling she was always thinking, even then, when she seemed half-asleep. Always thinking.  
About what? Inuyasha wondered, and let out an agitated sigh. She had acted so weird last night, going off into the woods alone as if she were the strongest hanyou on the face of the earth.. he'd followed her to watch for a few minutes, but all she did was lean up against a tree, refusing to look up.  
He had stayed hidden in the bushes, directly downwind, though he couldn't smell her.. or hear what she was muttering to herself, for that matter, though she was only ten feet or so away.  
It was his night of weakness...  
  
Ari stared off into the trees, oblivious to the look Inuyasha was giving her, seeming to forget the half of an apple in her hands as she dropped them to her lap.  
Chichue... her eyes were held half-lidded and completely blank of emotion. Father... the wind teased her long ponytail and ruffled her bangs away from her face as she was swept back into the memories of what had happened the morning Chichue had died... ...  
The ground made soft sounds as she packed earth into the base of the large stone, making sure it would hold for years to come. She cast her eyes to the earth, where he father's form was buried, and gave the stone another hard shove, deeper into the ground. She panted, holding her shoulder, which was still bleeding freely. She hadn't bothered to even clamp a hand over it to stop the flow. Putting her father's spirit to rest came first.  
She carved out her father's name in the stone with her claws, hardly wearing them down at all. She set the flowers she'd picked, now stained with blood, onto the top of the soil he was buried beneath.  
"I'm gonna miss you.." she whispered, the first time she'd spoken since the horrible ordeal. For a few fleeting seconds she thought of digging up the Reykiryuu once more, raising it to her chest.. committing seppuku...  
No..  
Chichue would not have wanted it. He wanted her to grow up proud and strong, to become as great to everyone else as she had been to him..  
Arimikoe stared at her clawed hands, wishing that he could have just killed her. Why did she have to be all alone in the world now?  
Earn their trust.  
The words came as a shock to her, but she shrugged it off and looked over her shoulder, trying to see if she was being watched. No.  
It seemed as if she were becoming paranoid. Arimikoe shook her head as if she were trying to free herself from the feelings welling up inside of her.  
Stay focused, she told herself, and pulled her tired body to standing. At least.. at least get help. You're bleeding to death. You didn't come all this way just to bleed to death. You're a girl with demon blood, aren't you?  
Arimikoe grasped the bloodstained sword that still lay in the grass, gave a last look at the cabin and the waterfall as she sheathed it, and then walked through the forest towards the village.  
Gasps filled her ears as she shakily made her way through the growing rice paddies that were full of working villagers. The same village that her father had found her at so long ago. She finally stopped to rest against the back of a hut on the edge of town, and a little girl hesitantly approached her, clutching what must have once been a doll.  
Arimikoe's eyes widened as a few village boys stole her doll from her and began throwing it around, calling out things to each other and laughing while the girl cried and tried to recover her beloved toy.  
The hanyou's eyes narrowed in pity, and finally she couldn't stand it any longer. She got up, simply picked the boy with the doll up by the back of his yukata, plucked it from his hands, and let him go.  
The boys backed away in fear as they caught sight of Arimikoe's ears and tail one by one. Their faces grew more and more frightened until they finally turned around and ran, leaving Arimikoe standing there and holding what had once been a doll.  
The little girl looked up at her through fearful eyes as Arimikoe knelt down and held out the doll to her.  
"Take it. I won't hurt you," the vixen-girl said gently, holding out the doll with her clawed hands.  
The little girl shivered slightly, then came up and plucked the doll from her hands. She stepped back again, the gazed up at Arimikoe, clutching the doll tight to her chest.  
"What are you?" she asked in a whisper. Arimikoe looked off into the trees, towards her old home. Her vision blurred.  
"I..." she said quietly. "I'm part youkai..." she turned back to the girl.  
"M.. m-my name is Yukio," the girl said in her tiny voice. "Th-Thank you for getting my... my doll back."  
"You're welcome, Yukio," the kitsune hanyou smiled gently, not moving from her kneeling position. "... my... my name..." Arimikoe's mind buzzed. What name should she give?  
Finally she decided on a name that someone had called her long ago, but she had not seen since she was small.  
"Ari. My name is Ari."  
My father will be the last one to call me Arimikoe. My true name shall be sacred to him alone...  
...  
"Hey kid, wake up!" Inuyasha's perpetually angry voice snapped through her thoughts and brought her out of the memories.  
"Gomen nasai," Ari whispered. "I have a tendency to space out..."  
"I noticed that," Inuyasha grumbled. Ari turned back to him and immediately started laughing. "What is it?!" he clenched his teeth. "What's so funny?!"  
"There's an apple on your head.." Ari fell over backwards, still giggling hysterically. Inuyasha cocked an eyebrow at her. This kid was more than he'd bargained for.  
*  
"Now, Sango!" Kagome's voice rang in the air, split a millisecond afterwards by the Hiraikotsu whizzing through the air and strait into the stomach of the giant oni, or ogre demon. The great beast roared in pain and the giant boomerang flew back to Sango, who slid back a few feet from the weight and force of her weapon.  
"Fox fire!" Shippo yelled as the demon took as swipe at him next. The multicolored fire danced up the beast's arm and it roared in pain.  
"YEEEAAAHHH!!!!!!" Shippo screamed as the claws came down at him. A red blur flashed under the gargantuan hand a millisecond before it slammed into the earth with a force that could crush concrete into dust.  
Ari grinned and let Shippo jump from her arms, then turned back to the demon and wished she had thought to bring along a sword she could use at the moment. She let out an agitated sigh and yelled over her shoulder, "Your turn, Inuyasha!!"  
Inuyasha drew his sword and sliced through the oni in one blow.  
"MAN, did that feel good," Inuyasha chuckled and sheathed the Tetsusaiga as the two halves of the oni fell behind him, twitching.  
Miroku promptly sucked the remains of the ogre demon into the Kazaana.  
"What's wrong, Ari? Why didn't you fight?" Kagome turned to the vixen- girl as they were being led back to the village they had just rescued.  
"Kid's scared to, I bet," Inuyasha muttered.  
"HEY!!" Ari socked him in the back of the head, which was about as effective as one of Kagome's 'Sit' commands.  
"It's not that she's scared, Inuyasha," Miroku said in his usual calm way.  
"Yes, I doubt Ari would be scared of something like this," Sango commented, hoisting the boomerang bone over her back.  
"It's not that I wouldn't fight," Ari nodded to them. "It's that I couldn't fight."  
"Huh?" Shippo asked, looking up at his half-sister. "Why not?"  
"I can't use my sword," Ari explained, smiling at the sky. "Did you notice that it's a different sword than the one I used to fight Inuyasha?"  
Everyone paused for a moment, then Kagome took a long look at the hilt. "Now that you mention it, it is different. The red strings trailing from the end of the hilt weren't there before, and that mark wasn't either."  
"Mark?" Shippo cocked his head to get a better look. "Hey, that burn mark on the hilt matches-"  
Ari gave him a look that plainly said, 'can it.' It was their secret.  
"That doesn't explain why you can't use it," Sango ventured.  
"My dad gave me this sword. It's really special," Ari explained. "It's called the Reykiryuu and it was made for me. I promised that the first blood on this sword would come from one worthy of fighting me," Ari absentmindedly stroked the hilt of the sword, feeling the now-familiar tendrils of warmth slide up her arm.  
"Feh. What good can you do with a sword you can't use?!" Inuyasha crossed his arms, taking on a childish pout. "You're only a girl, anyway."  
"And what does my being female have to do with anything?!" Ari exploded and punched him in the side of the face. Inuyasha flew backwards into the ground, making a small hole.  
"Men," Sango's eyes narrowed. "Honestly.."  
"You think he's okay?" Miroku asked, nervously looking into the hole. Obviously, he could see this happening in his not-too-distant future.  
"I'm okaaayyy...." Inuyasha moaned, not bothering to get up. "My FACE broke myy FALLLL..."  
Kagome couldn't stifle a laugh. Things would be a lot more interesting with Ari around.  
  
Ari leaned against the tree, staring at the rising moon, feeling her powers reach out to it. She had not been traveling with them for very long, but already the group seemed a part of her soul. The tales of their adventures moved her, inspired her, and made her want to be stronger.  
She wanted to help them in their quests.  
And Inuyasha said she could stay.  
So why did she feel so empty inside? Was she still not over her father's death?  
Ari drew her knees under her chin, setting the Reykiryuu at her side. She rested her face in the sleeves of her haori, cool with the night air, but her face felt hot. A few dozen feet away, the campfire crackled. Why did the night always seem to bring back the past? Why did she always feel sad when she saw the moon? Because of that long night before the morning? Because of-  
"Are you okay?" Inuyasha's hushed voice came from somewhere above her, in the boughs of the tree. Ari let out her breath.  
"Yeah. I'm fine," she replied, flicking her eyes from star to star. "Just thinking."  
"You need to stop doing that," he replied seriously. She let out a laugh.  
"Stop thinking? That's like telling me not to breathe," she shook her head from side to side, then became aware she had been crying, and had still-warm tearstains on the sides of her face. So that's why Inuyasha had been concerned.  
"I don't mean stop thinking altogether," a rustling sound came from overhead, and he landed beside her with a soft, muffled thump. "I mean just stop thinking about what you can't change."  
"I wish I could change it," Ari whispered as Inuyasha crossed his legs and arms, balancing the Tetsusaiga, his sword, against his shoulder. "I wish more than anything I could change it, even more than I wish to be a human."  
"A human?" Inuyasha asked, his eyes wide in shock as he turned to her. "Why do you want to be a human?!"  
"Are you kidding me?" Ari muttered as she glanced out of the side of her eyes at him. "You know what it's like to not fit it. To have no one who likes you. To have no one to love. If I were human, I wouldn't have to deal with that. People wouldn't be nice to me simply because I was strong and they were afraid. They would be nice to you me of the goodness of their heart."  
"Your problem is that you can't see any evil in anyone," Inuyasha chuckled, smirking at the sky. "You want to believe that the world is fair and just, that whatever someone says to you must be true. You can't accept that people will use you, lie to you, deceive you, and think it's okay!!"  
Ari stared at the dewy grass in front of her, her eyes half-mast.  
"You're right."  
"Huh?" he asked, blinking. "Did you just say I was right about something?"  
"Yeah. You're right. I'm a pushover. I believe anything anyone tells me, and it makes me easy to mess around with. That's what happened with Tenshi, and if you hadn't been there, he would've.. he would've..." Ari trembled and felt a tear trickle down her cheek.  
"Hey, give yourself some credit," Inuyasha said quickly. "You can fight. Hell, you kick ass. You just have weaknesses, that's all. Even I have weaknesses."  
"Yeah, at least you have had something I will never get to have," Ari whispered.  
"And what's that?" he paused, giving her time to answer. She stayed silent. "Well?"  
"... forget it. There's nothing you can do anyway."  
"Try me," he said seriously. "You'd be surprised." He shuffled closer to her, peeking at her under her bangs that fell over her face.  
"Nah." Ari said casually and turned her head away from him, but not before she couldn't stop a tear from dripping to the ground.  
"Hey, don't cry! No crying, or I won't help you even if I can!"  
What does he want from me? It actually looks like he cares what I think. Like he cares what happens to me...  
"Screw off," Ari muttered.  
"Well excuse me for trying to cheer you up!" Inuyasha shot up and crossed his arms, gripping onto the Tetsusaiga. "I'm only trying to make you feel better!"  
"Inuyasha," Ari reached out a hand after him as he stalked off towards camp. "Inuyasha, wait!"  
He made a waving motion with the hand that wasn't clamped angrily around the Tetsusaiga, as if brushing off her words.  
Ari's face flushed with anger and embarrassment. "Shimata!!" she exclaimed, slamming her fists into the ground on either side of her. She let out a sigh, angry with herself for being so rude to him. Maybe Inuyasha really was trying to help her. Despite his initial childish behavior, his violent streak, and his short temper, Inuyasha was actually a pretty good guy.  
Well, all she had to go on was when he had saved her from Tenshi. And that offer few minutes ago, to try and help her.  
Maybe she should have answered him.  
"DAH!!" Ari exclaimed in exasperation and flopped onto her side, resting her cheek in the dew-dropped grass. The very idea was ludicrous. He couldn't help her with what she wanted, even if he wanted to.  
He'd probably think she was too young to even consider bothering about. She frowned and turned over to stare at him from her position on the ground. The sky was all her own again now, dotted with so many stars. But she wasn't watching them.  
I shouldn't have said something so mean... She could see the firelight flickering in his silvery-white hair, his back turned to her. ...Even if he's never even called me by name. Just.. "kid."  
Does he really see me as a child?  
No, he couldn't. He had complimented her fighting strength, the first thing that he'd said that really seemed genuine, apart from when he'd permitted her to stay.  
She let out her breath again, her eyelids drooping over eyes that were now alive with emotion and thought, now that she was all alone.  
He wouldn't be able to help her with the one thing she thought she actually had a chance at doing. She knew that changing her father's death was impossible, and that she would never become a human.  
But Shippo had opened her eyes to a new possibility in life. Love.  
He couldn't help her there.  
Ari blushed furiously, mentally smacking herself for even considering the thought of Inuyasha teaching her how to love. It was pure insanity. He was her traveling companion, that was all. They weren't even friends. Him teach her love. Feh.  
And she knew enough already about him to know that he wasn't giving up Kikyo any time soon.  
Ari's sapphire eyes suddenly sparkled with electricity. She jumped to her feet and flattened herself against the bark of the tree, fading easily into the shadows as she knew so well how to do.  
"The poor fool," a low voice chuckled from around the other side of the tree. "He has no idea how soon his death will be. That hanyou's head will make an especially nice prize.. "the voice trailed off, and Ari muffled a gasp. She was downwind of Inuyasha, and whoever was on the other side of the tree. He couldn't smell them.  
"And so I will take the women, while you handle the mongrel himself?" another voice asked quietly.  
"You have read my mind, Yota," the first voice answered. Ari summoned enough courage to peek around the side of the broad tree.  
"When you give the signal, my lord Naoto," the second man said in almost a whisper as the hanyou girl focused in the dark on the two forms.  
They looked like humans. Two men, one tall and dark with shoulder-length black hair, the other smaller like his voice, with his black hair tied in a knot at the back of his head.  
They dressed like humans.  
But they reeked of demon.  
And Ari sensed an overwhelming power from the larger one. She was trapped in silence, unable to warn Inuyasha of the danger, unable to get away herself.  
This wasn't looking good at all...  
  
Ari frowned, trying to figure out what to do. In all of her days of fighting, she'd never encountered a demon disguised as a human..  
With the exception of the one they called "Naraku", in that form of an old woman. Ari felt herself becoming slightly frustrated with her predicament. She didn't feel right, simply hiding behind here like a frightened child. If she were to stay here, she would truly be worthy of the name "Kid", the word that Inuyasha seemed to think was her name. He hadn't called her by her name once!  
"At your word, Naoto-Sama," Yota whispered, Ari's sensitive ears easily picking it up. No way she could just stand by. Her father had taught her better than that.  
"And what word would that be?" Ari asked coolly, stepping out from behind her shelter and crossing her arms, trying not to act scared.  
"Who are you?!" the leader stumbled backwards, then his eyes narrowed in malice. "Just a girl," he muttered, then cast an annoyed gaze at Ari. "Don't you know that it's not polite to sneak up on people, little girl?" he asked with a syrupy politeness.  
Ari's eyebrow twitched.  
Little girl?!  
"What are you planning to do to the hanyou over there?" Ari crossed her arms, nodding in Inuyasha's direction.  
"Why would that be any of your business—eh?" The leader jumped backwards, realizing Ari's fox ears and tail for the first time. "I see, girl.. you're a demon as well!"  
She narrowed her eyes as the leader's companion came at her, drawing a katana. It was too easy. She shot backwards in a blur of movement before the steel was even in position to swing. A cloud of dust and dirt rose from where the blade impacted the ground, providing a cover for her next move.  
"Demon, eh?" Ari easily vaulted over the companion, spinning around and planting a foot on the back of his head. He dropped like a stone, uttering no cry. "Demon enough for you to fear," she whispered as she aimed a hard kick to snap the leader's ankle.  
But to her surprise, he easily stepped from her lightning-fast reach. The next thing Ari knew was a large impact directly to her stomach, causing her to fly backwards into the tree with a small cry. She slid down the trunk, landing at the base and trying to clear the daze of the blow from her head.  
"What the hell hit me-?" her sapphire eyes grew wide, and she didn't even have time to scream as a huge claw came out of nowhere, almost too fast to see, aimed directly at her face.  
  
"Whaa!!" Ari vaulted to the side, narrowly avoiding the full blow from the demon's claw. She was blindingly fast, but not fast enough.  
There was a sickening crack as the flat of the claw connected with her wrist, splitting the bone cleanly in two. Ari let out a muffled gasp of pain as she fell into the grass, trying to figure out where the pain had come from. A low grunt sounded from behind her, and the demon wrenched its giant claw from the earth, sending up a shower of dust, dirt and bits of plants. The demon then stepped into better light, narrowing its eyes at the hanyou girl.  
The leader hardly seemed human at all anymore. Large, luminous red eyes stared at her from behind pointed fangs. Ari could make out long, lean stretches of brownish fur at the base of huge leathery wings. The shining claws were at the ends of the wingspan of nearly twelve feet.  
A bat demon.  
The demon advanced on Ari so fast she barely had time to breathe. With a small cry, she vaulted out of the way, escaping with a gash on her shoulder. Another blow, another ripping of flesh. Blood splashed the grass. Ari took deep gasps of air, edging away from the attacks, gripping her wounded shoulder with her good hand. Disgust and a twisting of fear shone in her eyes and the demon stopped his onslaught long enough to taste the blood that had sprayed onto his face.  
A slow, menacing grin stretched the batlike features of the monster's profile. "So, girl.. you're only HALF demon!" he said in a gutteral voice.  
"You.." Ari gasped, her hand shaking as she reached for the deadly sword at her side. "Half's more than I need to take you down, you stinking rat with wings!!"  
She never saw the shadow rise behind the tree.  
  
"..you stinking rat.." Inuyasha's ears pricked upwards with a cute, comical sound. It would have been funny, had what he heard been less serious. "What in the hell is wrong with that baka kid..?" he whispered out loud, sighing, then stifling a huge yawn. Suddenly, he paused right in the middle of a breath as his heart beat a strange, halting rhythm. Blood? Was he smelling.. blood?! "Oh, SHIT!" Inuyasha vaulted up, grabbed the Tetsusaiga, and dashed in the direction of Ari's voice. 


End file.
